Sack collapsing mechanism for fountain pens



April 28, 1953 D. J. LA FRANCE SACK COLLAPSING MECHANISM FOR FOUNTAIN PENS Filed Aug. 26, 1949 INVENToR. uz'a/J-[a /'af/z ce ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 28, 1953 SACK COLLAPSING MECHANISM FOR FOUNTAIN PENS David J. La France,` Cambridge, Mass., assignor to George C. Holt, Inc.

Island a corporation of Rhode Application August a6, 1949, serial Nofna'ez 1 Claim. l

This invention relates to a fountain pen of the type for feeding liquid ink and more particularly to the means for collapsing a sack for drawing ink into the sack.

I-Ieretofore it has been usual to provide a lever for collapsing a sack which is accessible from the outer surface of the barrel of the fountain pen, the lever being located in a slot in the barrel. Such a lever may catch upon the pocket and collapse the sack or is unsightly,

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an arrangement which will completely conceal the lever for collapsing the sack of a fountain pen.

Another object of this invention is to provide a construction wherein a separate barrel is slid over the shell which carries the lever for collapsing the sack so that any one of several barrels of different colors may be assembled on the shell for a selected appearance.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unit collapsing construction which vmay serve in connection with sacks and barrels of various lengths and capacities.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a fountain pen with my invention incorporated therein;

Figure 2 is a sectional View of the shell withdrawn from the barrel of the pen shown in Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3 3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view on a larger scale and broken away to better show the arrangement of the parts;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing the lever as moved to position to collapse the sack.

In proceeding with this invention, I have provided a unit having a shell conveniently formed in two parts for mounting the collapsing mechanism for the sack and have assembled this unit with the section carrying the pen and sack, while permitting the barrel to be removably or interchangeably mounted upon the unit.

With reference to the drawings, I0 designates the barrel of a fountain pen which is provided with a bore from one end as at II. Into this `bore there is assembled the pen carrying section I2 which has a sack of rubber cr some like material I3 attached thereto for feeding the pen point I4 withliquid ink. A control member I5 is assembled with the pen point I4 in section I 2.

(Cl. 1Z0-46) In order to collapse the sack I3, I have formed a unit designated generally I6 which comprises a metallic shell Il bent up into cylindrical form with a slot I8 extending along a portion of its length which is formed by turning inwardly the opposite edges I9 of this cylindrical member. The cylinder is complete without the slot along its end portion 20 in order that a stiffened construction may be provided. These inturned edges I9 serve to mount the parts of the collapsing mechanism.

A bar 2| extends along the sack I3 and is secured by a rivet 22 to a resilient spring-like link 23 which is formed with trunnions 24, 24 which extend into openings 25 in the turned-in portions IQ so as to pivotally mount this link in position. In order to force this bar ZI toward the diametrically opposite cylindrical surface of the member I'I, I have provided a lever 26 having oppositely extending trunnions 21 which are also pivotally mounted in openings 23 in the two inturned portions I9 which extend along the slot I8. These trunnions are spaced from the rounded end 30 of the bar 26 so that when this bar is swung from the position shown in Figure 4 to the position shown in Figure 5, this end portion 3i! will press the bar 2l from the position shown in Figure 2 in full lines and in Figure 4 to the position shown in Figure 5 and in Figure 2 in dotted lines, so as to collapse the sack I3. The end of this lever 26 is curved as at 3i so as to extend at substantially right angles to the main portion of the lever and will extend across the open end of the cylindrical shell I'I. This shell part I'I is mounted in the end of a second shell part 32 by telescoping into the same as shown in Figures 2. 4 and 5 with the edge portion 33 of this part 32 so located that it will limit the outward movement of the lever 2B to a position at substantiallv right angles to its position in Figure 4 such as shown in Figure 5 or in dotted lines in Figure 2 for greater convenience in operation.

Thus the full collapsing may be had of the sack without fear of passing beyond the position of such full collapsing. Shell 32 may be conveniently telescoped onto the reduced portion 34 of the end section I2 for convenience in assembly of the entire unit into the barrel I0 and by this arrangement various different barrels III may be used upon the shell 32 that the change of color or the like may be provided.

It will be apparent that in order to collapse the sack I3, it is merely necessary to pull the unit with the shell attached thereto out of the barrel 3 l0, collapse the sack and then after lling return the same into the barrel l0.

I claim:

In a fountain pen, an outerrcasing comprising two sections, one section carrying a compressible sack, a shell embracing a portion of said sack, a bar movablyattached to said shell :and -extending lengthwise di said sack, a lever pivted intermediate its ends on said shell to swing in a plane passing through the general lengthwise extent of said bar, one end of said lever moving inwardly against said bar to forc'eit against 's'ai sack and compress it as the lever is swung about its pivot from a position generally paralleltosaid bar to a. position at right angles thereto, `the other end of said lever having an end bent to extend across said shell when its major `vportionis paral- 4 lel toy said bar, said other section being tubular and slidably telescoping said shell and covering said lever to lock it against swinging and abutting the other section to complete an outer case.

DAVID J. LA FRANCE.

References `Gited in the fileof this `patent UNITED rS'IA"'J .-Es PATENTS 

